Yeah, deep down I'll admit it's not quite as much of a classic as most of the other titles I mentioned but god-damn does it just hit a real sweet spot for me (as does Fallen Angels - love me some overly stylish and weirdly quasi-romantic crime movies).

Most of the best films I saw last year were rewatches but this is hastily put together list of best new finds. I'm likely forgetting something from the first 3.5 months as I didn't keep notes before joining here.

You guys with 500 viewings amaze me. I got to 300 this year and thought all I did was watch movies.

Love Thief Iro. I also saw Fallen Angels for the first time this year. I really enjoyed it but it fell short of my 10.

Yeah indeed it amazes me too. And frightens me a bit. A LOT more than one movie per day? Wow.

My highest was in 2015 where I started my diary. Came to about 316 after failing my one movie a day half-way through... oh well.

I watched 179 this year. Been busy living and trying to figure out who I am and what I want to do. That made me end up in film and tv production which has taken away A LOT of time for movie watching. But when I’ve had the opportunity I’ve watched some.

Natural performances, memorable dialogue, evocative soundtrack, exquisite cinematography. Notable upon release as the first film to feature a lesbian relationship minus the tragedy or sensationalism, Desert Hearts is one of the best, most believable romances I've seen. Hugely underrated/underseen.

#4) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

Weird, irreverent, goofy, silly, exciting, colorful, imaginative, loaded with pop-culture references, full of quotable dialogue ("I'm Mary Poppins, ya'll!"), and it even managed to manipulate my emotions to an embarrassingly successful degree. Possibly my favorite entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Maybe I just caught this movie in the perfect mood, but GotG Vol. 2 entertained and made me laugh more than anything else I watched in 2018.

#3) Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)

#2) Footlight Parade (1933)

As a movie buff, my most exciting development of 2018 was discovering within me a love of musicals, a genre that I used to avoid like the plague. The catalyst for that change of opinion: Busby Berkeley and his stunning, show-stopping, kaleidoscopic cinematography. Both Gold Diggers of 1933 and Footlight Parade feature jaw-dropping musical numbers, along with tons of eye candy, pre-code sexual innuendo and laugh-out-loud dialogue/situations. These movies also introduced me to Joan Blondell, who has fast become one of my favorite actresses.

#1) Mandingo (1975)

Quoting my Movie Tab post:

Roger Ebert gave Mandingo zero stars and called it "racist trash." Judging by the reactions I've seen online, the majority of people seem to share his opinion. Not me. Mandingo is the best first-time viewing I've had this year. I think it's the most powerful, sobering, unflinching portrayal of slavery that I've seen on film. It illustrates the dehumanizing treatment of slaves in the rawest, most graphic detail. I think the reason for the disconnect and scorn from most audiences is because Mandingo is an unabashed exploitation film. Think Gone with the Wind if directed by Jack Hill. It's unapologetically trashy, sleazy, sordid, disturbing, violent, and it revels in the nastiness of its characters and their actions. This isn't your typical Oscar bait that is sanitized for the masses, presenting the horrors of the past in a safe manner that doesn't make audiences too uncomfortable. This sh*t is ugly. The colors are washed out. The plantation is decaying and full of weeds. There are no "white saviors" to be found, only vile, racist, white trash. Slavery delivered via exploitation instead of prestige might not sit well with a lot of people, but what better way to portray the exploitation of an entire race than through an exploitation film, where good taste and morals don't abide. There's incest, infanticide, rape. Slaves as soulless sexual puppets. Slaves as soulless pawns forced to fight to the death for the amusement of white owners. Slaves as footstools for rheumatism. Slaves as soup. Maybe I'm crazy, but I think this film is damn close to being a masterpiece. It's the most f**ked-up film I've seen about America's most f**ked-up time period.

Doug Coughlin mentors Brian Flannigan as a frontman and bartender to work the show. Brian bolts for Jamaica when Doug gets in the middle of a fling between Flannigan and Gina Gershon, ... A fun time's set up with prize 80s headliners Elisabeth Shue, Tom Cruise, and hottstuff Kelly Lynch. All shook up.

Partways outrageous, mostways one cool flick from one badazz filmmaker. A 17-year-old pays $250 for a wrecked 1958 Plymouth Fury with an indestructible vengeance.That's a piece of sh*t, Arnie.She could be fixed up, boy should could be really tough.Forget it, Arnie.

Pull a string, win a prize! Really charming and satisfying slice of Americana, it's not horror though. Gary Busey plays Bozo the clown in a dunking booth, who is good buddies with Robbie Robertson (The Band), young Jodie Foster's appears in a similar setup to her role in Taxi Driver. Glimpse at the inside of carnivals. A new genuine favorite. Love Busey's caged provocative trash talk to get the customers into the action.

Saw it getting kind of bashed by some members in the 80s teen flick get-together here on the site. Not as famous as the first, but that one's over-played. Made me want to bring back the big slick messy swoop 50s hairstyles and buy a motorcycle more than the first movie ever did!

In the getaway after robbing a Mexican bank, bandits Karl Malden and Marlon Brando have to split up... Malden gets the horse and the money, Brando's left abandoned in the desert where he's arrested and jailed in Sonora prison for five years. Once out, Rio (Brando) scans the taverns and barrooms for news of his old friend who double-crossed him. Quality kickass western flick. A man can't stay angry for five years, can he?

Wish it hadn't been chopped up by the MPAA Ratings board in 1988, as the gore shouldn't be ripped out of the Friday The 13th films. Still a lot of fun with characters I enjoy a lot. There are plenty of slashers that are pretty minimal on gore really anyways, the original Halloween being one of them.

Go inside the hidden Hong Kong arena where combatants clash in the Kumite, a little-known but hotly contested world championship of full-contact combat sport. The Kumite is dominated by Chong Li (Bolo Yeung), a ruthless powerhouse champion, until a Westerner shows up named Frank Dux (Jean Claude Van Damme)- who also gets involved with an American journalist there named Janice Kent (Leah Ayres). Tagline: The True Story Of An American Ninja!

A Paul Verhoeven (Starship Troopers, RoboCop, Total Recall, Showgirls, Basic Instinct) film starring Rutger Hauer as enlisted resistance courier Erik Lanshof in the German-occupied Netherlands during the Second World War. The story tracks a set of six friends from the town of Leiden, as the situation drives their lives in dissimilar directions. As a sincere enthusiast and college graduate in history, I am frequently let down when films focus too much on the personal while neglecting the crucial larger sweep of what is at stake. While Soldier Of Orange doesn't necessarily CRUSH that aspect of wonder and spectacle, it provides a lot that other productions from the period don't, and for that reason resembles a feel of a favorite-kind-of-film.

Great movie I found last year and watched really late one night. Lyon Gaultier, a paratrooper in the French Foreign Legion stationed in North Africa, catches word his brother was burned alive in a drug-deal gone wrong and deserts his post. Lyon is drawn into a ring of illegal street fighting controlled by "The Lady," Cynthia (Deborah Rennard). Van Damme fights in the bare-knuckles underground circuit to support his sister-in-law and little niece who were left desolate in a small apartment in Los Angeles. There's big money side-betting as Cynthia sponsors him, who's surrounded by the rich and connected. Meanwhile, two Legionnaire security force men track down Lyon for deserting his post, leading to a big-stakes rigged fight between Attila and Lionheart. Sure you wanna mess up that face, handsome?

A criminal, a basket case, a princess, a dork, and a jock have Saturday confinement with Paul Gleason. Before they can leave, they've each got to describe who they think they are. Five strangers with nothing in common, except each other.

Forgot my letterboxd password which would probably help with this, but something like...

The Shape of Water (2017)
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
God’s Own Country (2017)
Your Name (2016)
Europa Europa (1990)
Goodbye Mr Chips (1939)
The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926)
The Age of Shadows (2016)
Make Way For Tomorrow (1937)
Moonlight (2016)

I know I have been more than a little absent from Mofo this year but I had the best year ever watching films and wanted to share my top ten first time watches. As always I do a separate list for 2018 watches so I will include that as well. This thread has died down a bit the last couple years. Hopefully some Mofos will be compelled to share.

This is unbearably hard, but I'll do one anyways. A little foodnote, I've ranked these the way I originally saw them - so if a rewatched bumped it up or down that won't change the ranking here. I feel like since it's "Yearly First Viewing Top Tens" it should be the actual first viewing and not potential rewatches...

Honorable mentionsWe Need to Talk About Kevin, Isle of Dogs, Witness for the Prosecution, Sideways, Eighth Grade, Annihilation, The King of Kong, A Star is Born, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Breakfast Club, Mommy, The Disaster Artist, Your Name, The Square, The Truth About Men

And I won't count short films in here, but this would should get a mentionThe House of Small Cubes

Other first wathces that I also likedThree Bilboards
Interview with a Vampire
Don't Look Now
Trainspotting
Groundhog Day
The Town
Felon
Deadpool 2
Good Time
The Princess Bride
Hereditary
The Warriors
A Quiet Place
First Reformed
R
Incredibles 2
The Purge: Anarchy
Naked
Frankenstein (1910)
First Man
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Sorry to Bother You
Roma

I did not realize how few new movies I have watched this year. I tend to re-watch what is in my collection over and over and only watch what is recommended or whatever is streaming on Netflix. Fortunately the year is only half over, and I can make a concerted effort to seek out five to ten films that are new to me before 2019 ends. I have watched a few other movies but they did not merritt being put on any list.